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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409983">Understanding</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tru_tru/pseuds/Tru_tru'>Tru_tru</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witcher (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:14:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>831</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409983</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tru_tru/pseuds/Tru_tru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Geralt and Jaskier ficlet, through the eyes of everyone's favorite mare: Roach.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>277</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Understanding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Roach is a tough mare. She had to become one by necessity; her rider is always traipsing around the most perilous of terrains, meddling with the deadliest of creatures the world had to offer. She’s had to become quite observant too- not for fear of the creatures (she learned quickly that her rider was more deadly than all of them combined) but to keep track of the white-maned male himself.</p><p>He is a quiet creature, mostly. When it is just the two of them, he grumbles to her, soft and low. She doesn’t know what the noises mean, but it seems to bring her rider some measure of peace to make them.</p><p>He avoids his own kind, even though Roach sees that they usually live in packs.  The two of them will occasionally pass through territories they have claimed, though they never stay for long. She can see why her rider avoids them. They are noisy, cramped places for the most part, with overpowering smells; some good, some stomach-turning.</p><p>Her rider seems to be an outcast, which Roach also does not understand. She has seen him hunt- exceptional by any creatures’ standard. He would be an asset to any pack, yet the weaker ones shun him. It made no earthly sense.  </p><p>He never seems bothered by the solitude though, and <em>she</em> likes her rider, even if his own kind do not. His touch is always gentle and his rubdowns are quite superb.</p><p>He is fond of her too- if his possessiveness is any indication. In all the years they have traveled together, he has never allowed another to ride her. Which is why it is so remarkable he finally makes an exception.</p><p>The little one who begins to follow them is much louder than her rider. He brays and bleats incessantly, making sounds she has never heard her rider make. Though strikingly different in stature, they do appear to be of the same kind- two legs, two arms, round heads that twist about on skinny necks. But while her rider is strong and nimble, the loud one is weak and clumsy.</p><p>She suspects he will not live long in her rider’s company.</p><p>For a whole season, she watches as her rider rescues the little one from certain death, carries him over his shoulder when he is injured and- wonder of wonders- lets him ride on Roach’s back. Not often, but even so...</p><p>For a while, Roach does not know how to feel about the little one. He smells nicer than her rider and he will sometimes sneak a carrot or apple to her while her rider is off hunting. But he also makes her rider tense in a way she has not seen before.</p><p>Her rider is almost always tense in some way, but this is different. For the first time, she can smell fear on him, and the little one is always the cause. He fears for the runt’s safety of course, but also shifts uneasily when he comes too close. Which is fairly often.</p><p>It’s strange, to say the least.</p><p>Roach watches the little one too. He trails after her rider like he has some special food in his pocket, not touching him, even though it’s clear he wants to. He will stare at her rider, his eyes full of sadness.</p><p>The new routine lasts several seasons, but change finally comes when they run into a female of their kind- one whose smell is familiar to Roach. Some time ago her rider returned to her drenched in the smell, along with other scents Roach has learned mean her rider has taken a mate.</p><p>The little one was unhappy with it then, but now his hatred of the female is palpable. Roach can feel it like a coming thunderstorm, and it casts the little one in a new light.</p><p>He may have more fight in him than she had thought.</p><p>The female does not stay in their company for long, and the evening of her departure her rider approaches the little one in anger.</p><p>His noises are sharp and loud, but the little one does not cower. He responds at nearly the same volume for a while, then lowers his head and makes softer noises. It is these that silence her rider. Their meaning must be significant because he stays still for a very long time. When he finally moves it is to initiate contact, but not the kind meant to injure.</p><p>This, Roach has seen before too- it is her rider taking a mate. They shed their layers and rut together for much of the night. Their cries make it impossible for Roach to sleep, but she knows it will end eventually.</p><p>Soon there is silence. The two of them doze off by the dying fire, her rider wrapped around the little one like a great snake.</p><p>She understands at last what all of this has been, and it baffles her that a simple courtship could take so long.</p><p> </p>
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